<p>A reasonable guess is that
Arts and Sciences median GPA is 3.4
University average GPA is 3.18
because Engineering’s median 2.7 dragged everything down.</p>
<p>Too bad Engineering has very strong student body and everyone said they worked hard, but they have the lowest average GPA. No wonder one poster said that for AEM it needs 3.75+ to be impressive, for Engineering 3.0 is respectable.</p>
<p>…Except the COE’s average GPA was 3.0 back in the 1990’s. This was from Cornell’s own internal documents. At that time, the average GPA of CAS was ~3.1. And the average GPA of all other colleges were higher. So, if the average GPA of CAS is 3.4 today, the true average GPA of Cornell is approx 3.4-3.5. </p>
<p>We know the average GPA of COE cannot be 2.7 because Cornell posted the median grades of every class online and it’s very clear that the average GPA of COE is in the 3.0-3.4 range.</p>
<p>I think I would trust the official graduate school site with Engineering 2.7 and Cornell site akbear posted with university average 3.18 instead of guesses.</p>
<p>I saw the median grade lists when my D was enrolling the first semester while my family were in Ithaca. There were whole bunch of B-'s in Engineering classes. Besides, even if one is mostly above median in some classes, slip with other classes could still kill the cummulated GPA’s, that’s why my D is constantly in an unsure status even when she was on Dean’s list (3.5). And I heard an engineer is going into JP Morgan with 3.2, I assume recruiters knew engineering GPA since they’ve seen a lot.</p>
<p>Um. All this excitement based on invalid information.</p>
<p>There is no “official graduate school site with Engineering 2.7”. That’s a reference to a page stating a minimum GPA standard, not an average GPA for the college.</p>
<p>There is also no 3.18 stated for the Univ: that page refers to a particular program, not the Univ-wide average.</p>
<p>The closest I can find to published average GPAs is the reports on Fraternity & Sorority averages: In Spring 2012 Frats had 3.251, Sororities had 3.397 (yay!). I haven’t found any authoritative sources quoting any of the numbers people are mentioning here.</p>
<p>I’ve seen 3.4 mentioned somewhere as the Univ average last year, but am not finding it right now.</p>
<p>exstudent, find it so we can trust that piece of information. Thanks. And please find the COE one if you have better than the Cornell site information.</p>
<p>And exstudent,
On that site “Achieve at least a 2.3 cumulative grade point average in a full-time degree program. (The average GPA for the past several years was approximately 3.18.)”</p>
<p>In a full-time degree program means one is persuing a degree (vs non-degree-seeking studies), not “refers to a particular program”.</p>
<p>“There is no “official graduate school site with Engineering 2.7”. That’s a reference to a page stating a minimum GPA standard, not an average GPA for the college.”</p>
<p>It would not make sense to let students below average to apply for graduate school. :-)</p>
<p>The vast majority of classes in the COE were curved to B or B+ with only a few in the B- (2.7) range. Simple common sense tells you that the average GPA is not close to 2.7.</p>
<p>My last post on this, I give up. People will believe what they want to believe.</p>
<p>The Cornell Tradition is not the same as “All of Cornell UG”. It’s a fellowship program, and not the only one.</p>
<p>“The Cornell Tradition is a fellowship program recognizing students for their commitment to a strong work ethic, service involvement, and academic achievement.”</p>
<p>“The Fellowship is comprised of approximately 500 undergraduates from all class years and colleges.”</p>
<p>“In order to become or remain a fellow, you must … Complete a minimum of 100 hours of legal paid work (no cash or under-the-table work) during the academic year.”</p>
<p>So, the fact that this group has an average of 3.x obviously does not represent the average for all of Cornell UG. Seems obvious to me, but then I get confused by numbers.</p>
<p>And I won’t even try to answer the assertion about the Eng school.</p>
<p>I think in order to make this a valid post, it’s probably best to find very current information on grades and trends over the past several years and not from 10 years ago. A lot has changed.</p>